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breput
ssl-3
Thanks for the tip.
I opened up my phone to see about giving Octopi a shot, and (amusingly? alarmingly?) Nova Launcher produced a popup warning me that it would now feature ads.
Anyway, my launcher needs are pretty minimal. Switching over and recreating a familiar layout was easy enough.
I do find one function missing, though: Some shortcut functionality seems missing in Octopi that was present in Nova.
For instance: Shazam. I use it to identify the music I hear, and that's all I want it for. With Nova, I was able to create a single-tap button on the home screen for a "Shazam Now" shortcut that immediately went straight to the identification phase with zero nonsense. This worked slick, and I'd been using it this way for a decade or so.
With Octopi, I can long-press the Shazam icon and pick "Shazam Now", and that does work. But that's multiple steps instead of just one, and I can't drag that shortcut to the home screen. There is also a list of apps with shortcuts that I can add, but Shazam is missing from that list.
Thus, the single-tap Shazam Now function I'm familiar with is presently lacking. Perhaps some day. :)
(Otherwise, Octopi fits with everything else I want to do, so I'm buying the dev a coffee.)
hnuser123456
You can use the open source app Activity Launcher to create homescreen shortcuts to directly launch any exposed activity/method in any app. There's probably a StartSongSearch or similar activity in Shazam. (there's also a song search activity in the Google app)
BoppreH
I managed to add a Shazam Now button using a Shazam widget, not a shortcut. Give it a try!
I just installed Octopi on this thread's recommendation. Pretty good so far, and I'm happy to remove the useless Google search bar from the bottom of my Pixel (I use Kagi and Firefox, neither of which can be configured on that bar). Also satisfied how you can resize widgets to any size, regardless of what the widget asks for.
ssl-3
That's similar functionality, but it's not a Shazam Now shortcut. I really don't want any widgets -- at all, ever. And I need labels -- remembering arbitrary iconography is a silly task when phonetic written language exists.
Just a shortcut is fine. Or at least: It had been fine for nearly a decade.
This, right here: This is what I want, and what I was using with Nova Launcher until late last night. https://www.androidpolice.com/2017/01/27/shazam-gets-updated...
:)
(Besides, Shazam is just a singular example. I had other shortcuts that I also used. I'm really rather disinterested in finding individual workarounds for each of them.)
pepa65
I tried with Round Sync to add a button for a certain task to my home screen, and it doesn't work... That is very sad, it used to work on Nova.
princevegeta89
What a coincidence of shitholery here. I've been a very loyal user of Nova for almost a decade now, and I have never even thought of using any other launcher. Now, strangely since 2 weeks ago, on my Samsung phone, I've been experiencing a lot of freezing and random crapping out of my Nova launcher, where it would just not let me do anything and show a blank home screen with a wallpaper. So this most likely is the reason, I'm not sure, but this sends a very bad vibe down the line now.
I am going to look for a nice open source launcher and get used to it. To hell with the shittification of our beloved apps and services.
rpdillon
I've been using the keyboard based KISS launcher for 6 years now. Available in F-Droid, small, light, fast.
princevegeta89
I just tried kvaesitso and it seems good so far. Will try KISS once thanks
amne
that same moment I switched to Niagara launcher. After 10 minutes of using it bought the Pro level and that was it. I kept around 5 apps in main screen, YT music widget automatically pops up on top when I connect headphones. The side scroll is very well thought out. For each letter the most used apps are on top. This one clicked with me.
subscribed
I tried Niagara myself, but that's not for me. I need more than one widget, very different weather widget, and quick access to the full drawer.
Separately it openly states in the privacy policy it states your location with third parties (or at least did 2 months ago). Big GTFO from me at this point.
I also tried and loved Kvaesito, but sadly their strict "one widget per line" limitation is where I bailed out. I use a number of 1x1 and 1x2 widgets so this basically breaks it down for me.
Looking forward for the Nova replacement :(
nxtbl
"In-app purchases" another annoyance of the play store, can't see prices without installing an app. So question for users of Octopi, how's the pricing?
ffsm8
1. It's not unique to the play store, as a matter of fact, this started in the iOS app store and was "adopted" by Google. It could definitely be improved though, i.e. if all potential in-app purchases were listable via the store page, like on steam for example
2. The prices were mentioned in the comment you're responding to.
noja
> this started in the iOS app store and was "adopted" by Google
I can see prices for in-app purchases in the iOS App Store.
ezst
What seems to be missing from every alternative I've seen is the power offered by the combo Nova+Sesame. I really don't use my launcher as a navigation system. All it does for me is pop open a search box after a swipe so I can type the name of the app I want to use, the contact I want to text or call, etc.
There seem to be other "search-first" launchers out there (KISS is one), but then they miss the amount of expected polish (unread/notification badges, leeway in letting you place random widgets on the background, etc). Still searching.
high_priest
I use the Nova Launcher in exact same way as you. I've checked many alternatives and none are as polished as Nova.
cik
As another 10+ year Nova Launcher user, I appreciate this. I bought prime forever ago (3x actually as I moved domains), I'll happily use Octopi on my tablet. Thanks again!
Wurdan
I've spent about 10 mins seeing if I can replicate my Nova setup with Octopi. My only missing feature so far is more extensive gesture support. As far as I can tell, Octopi supports a max of five actions, and you can't change the gestures for them. They seem to be hardcoded to "swipe up", "swipe down", "swipe right from first screen", "double tap" and "tap home (icon)". If I could change the gesture for "swipe right from first screen" and "double tap" then I could almost perfectly recreate my Nova setup.
saltcured
It's these discussions where I realize people use phones in such different ways.
I abandoned Nova last year when I read about this looming problem. I found that Fossify Launcher beta (from F-Droid) works well enough for me on my Pixel 8a.
I don't really need much out of a launcher. My main goal was to have one like my older Android and not be forced to have a search bar or assistant triggers on my home screen.
All I need from the home screen is to be able to place basic widgets like clock and calendar and shortcuts for the basic apps I use frequently. A plain app drawer is fine for the rest, because I don't really install that many apps and instead disable/remove many. My app drawer shows 35 apps and has several blank rows remaining on the first page with 5 icons per row.
celsoazevedo
For those still using Nova Launcher (custom launcher for Android), it seems that it's owned by a new company and the latest update comes with the Facebook Ads and Google AdMob SDKs and require extra permissions.
8.1.6:
- Branch (analytics)
- Bugsnag (crash report)
8.2.4:
- Facebook Ads (advertisement)
- Google AdMob (advertisement)
- Branch (analytics)
- Bugsnag (crash reporting)
- Google CrashLytics (crash reporting)
- Google Firebase Analytics (analytics)
fireflash38
Any good alternatives people are using? I've used Nova for absolutely ages
kenrick95
I switched to KISS Launcher several years back and had been loving it. I like the philosophy of search-based launcher. This way, if I don't actively search for an app, I won't be distracted into opening one
yummybrainz
KISS launcher is excellent. I've been using it for years now and would never go back to any other style of launcher.
The only improvement I could imagine is supporting multiple screens of widgets (i.e. swiping left/right or scrolling up/down).
For folks interested in checking it out:
Website: https://kisslauncher.com/ Source: https://github.com/Neamar/KISS Store: https://f-droid.org/packages/fr.neamar.kiss/
AlbinoDrought
I did this as well when the previous Nova launcher news came out. It took maybe a day to get used to, but I like it much more now - I have nothing to organize, I just access what I want to use instead. It feels natural.
t0bia_s
KISS launcher user for about 5 years and never looking back. Search line for everything is actually faster then browsing list of icons.
rpdillon
Yep, I was doing a lot of launcher hopping back in the day, but ever since I moved to KISS, I haven't felt the need. It brings a level of intentionality by forcing you to search for the app you want to use. For my most commonly usef apps, binding them to swipe gestures makes using the phone very fast and easy.
dugite-code
I always find myself missing widgets with KISS.
But then when I use a launcher like lawnchair with widgets I rarely end up actually using them. Wish there was something like widget drawer that was FOSS tbh
DanOpcode
I made the switch to KISS some time ago. Really like it! I haven't missed anything. Simple and does the job. No distractions.
BLKNSLVR
I moved to Lawnchair when I recently-ish migrated to GrapheneOS. I can't remember why I didn't go with Nova Launcher again, might have been related to the permissions required.
Lawnchair has fewer options, ie. is simpler, but I haven't, in practice, noticed any memorable differences.
murrayb
I just switched to Lawnchair thanks for the recommendation. Seems to do everything I wanted from Nova anyway.
flax
I've been mostly happy with Action launcher. It has the few features I really liked from Nova that are missing from pixel launcher: I can make my home screens scroll in a circular/infinite manner, I can remove the search bar and the google news feed or whatever they call the left page, I can set more than one page in the dock.
Unfortunately, the app list page isn't quite as configurable. There are folders rather than tabs, and there's an extra click necessary to search by app name. Overall, it does the job.
Aluminum0643
I've been using Octopi Launcher
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.otp.octopi...
breput
Thank you! I had looked at several recommended launchers and none were real Nova Launcher replacements. I randomly saw your comment and was intrigued, especially since I hadn't seen a lot of sources mentioning Octopi Launcher as a suitable option.
It is the perfect Nova Launcher replacement. The UI and features feels like a more polished Nova and transitioning to Octopi is such an intuitive process.
raybb
Do you know if this, or any other launcher for that matter, works well on the latest Android for Pixels? Ever dang launcher I try (Nova included) has this horrible problem where at some point during the day the app launcher becomes a wasteland of blanked out apps with no names and no order. Only fix is to restart the phone. It got a little better with Android 16 but not much.
sgc
I switched from Nova to Smart Launcher a couple years ago because it allowed me better customization of app groups - although I did need to work on the config a bit. I like it.
canthonytucci
Lawnchair is not as fancy but it works
ahartmetz
People are suggesting mostly search-based launchers here. Lawnchair is a launcher similar to Nova (icon-based) which should be safer from enshittification because it's FOSS. Actually derived from an old Google Launcher...
Yes, Lawnchair isn't packed with functionality, but it's also not packed with anti-functionality.
Fire-Dragon-DoL
It doesn't support adding pages to the home,sadly
garciansmith
Lawnchair is good. I just really want app drawer tabs, the only reason I've stuck with Nova.
flexagoon
Kvaesito is a great search-focused FOSS launcher
lawn
This is also what I migrated to a while back.
It's quite different compared to Nova and other launchers but after using it a while I've come to love it. Do yourself a favor and give it a few days before you dismiss it.
planetafro
I use Niagra. So good once you get used to it.
cromka
3. Types of Data collected Among the types of Personal Data that this Application collects, by itself or through the listed Data Processors, there are:
Unique device identifiers Approximate geographic position (city level) IDs (package names) from installed apps Usage Data Cookies
Oh boy...
spopejoy
It's weird, I'm on 8.2.4 but it hasn't asked me for any new permissions. It did use mobile data last October but none this month. Is network access a permission? I only see "Phone" granted.
It may be because my aging phone is on Android 10, I auto-migrated Nova from an even older phone. Back then app drawers were in the free version, so after the migration I can't modify them (don't care, I didn't end up using that feature).
AdmiralAsshat
And yet somehow my launcher updated automatically during the night, despite the change in ownership and new permissions needed.
Thanks, Google.
prmoustache
One of the reason I don't use the playstore.
itsTyrion
One of the reasons I don't auto update stuff
j1elo
What happened with the Open Sourcing promises?
https://www.osnews.com/story/143297/nova-launchers-open-sour...
nar001
The original CEO who made that promise was kicked out, and the new one didn't care to follow it, supposedly in the dev's contract but not enough, since that didn't happen
prmoustache
Promises only engage those that believe in them.
Fej
Do older versions of Nova have any security flaws which preclude using them?
I've been using this app for ages and it's been essentially feature-complete for several years. A part of me wants to switch launchers for no other reason than "it is supported and not tracking me", but it is possible for software to be finished, and I believe Nova falls into that category. If there's no meaningful vulnerabilities in it, there's really no reason for me to switch away, at least not immediately.
KetoManx64
Disable the network permission and you've got nothing to really worry about.
Stolpe
Not today, but maybe tomorrow
Semaphor
Well, that sucks. When the sale was announced, I tried several launchers, free and paid, and none of them were as good as Nova :/ Guess I’ll do another round.
calderwoodra
I've been using Niagara for a few years and I love it.
NSPG911
Niagara Launcher is like Niri among the other Linux Window Managers. It is highly unique, and yet still gets the job done, if not better.
Semaphor
Completely different style of launcher though.
anilakar
Yes, and it does exactly what a launcher should do. It is not designed to show a dozen widgets spread over five workspaces.
Priced at 15 eurobucks (back in the day) it's the most expensive piece of Android software I have ever bought. I have felt no buyer's remorse whatsoever.
Edit: looks like the perpetual license costs EUR 40 nowadays.
mkka
Smart Launcher is the one I settled on after my last round of testing. Not perfect, but closer than most.
franciscop
Please update here if you find any good alternative? I'm stuck in the same place
jayknight
Lawnchair has been good enough for me, get a recent development build, they don't release very often.
colordrops
Lawnchair is the best open source launcher IMHO. It's feature reach but it does have one problem: the defaults are the opposite of sane lol.
Semaphor
I’ll be trying out Hyperion now as default launcher, list of stuff I checked quickly:
Kvaesitso (FLOSS) and AIO: Different style of launcher that I don’t want, so out.
Action: Felt weird to use, didn’t find a setting for auto search in app drawer
Smart launcher: The most expensive one at 25€, and no proper app drawer search either.
Lawnchair (FLOSS): Annoying animations, widgets don’t work properly (many widgets require Yx2 sizing that should work as Yx1)
Octopi: Slightly better widgets than lawnchair, but still sizing issues. Without that I’d probably have gone with it first.
Hyperion: This is what I’ll be testing for now. The only Nova feature I’m missing is showing recently installed apps in the drawer, but that’s extremely minor. Apparently support is bad and updates rare, but neither is an issue for me.
troyvit
I've been having fun with Kvaesitso after it was recommended here. There are some things I'd change, but it's nice.
jemmyw
I'm trying that one too. I did not like Octopi or KISS. Kvaesitso looks nice, I like the drawer and the drawer widgets are kind of cool too. The annoying thing that might drive me away is that you cannot set the order of favourites and the order changes depending on what you last used. Changing the order of something has to be very thoughtful or it quickly becomes frustrating - and with the favourites its not obvious that should be like a "recently used" list.
JoshTriplett
I highly recommend Octopi launcher. Simple, does exactly what it should. Works great on foldables, as well.
kristopolous
There's so many suggestions here that you open up and it's just a buy screen with comment reviews like "oh dearest me, I was lost in the darkness and then I found salvation with this app"
I can't help but think there's a lot of devs here pushing their own products.
RobotToaster
At this point I just assume any recommendation on here that isn't for FOSS is a shill/bot.
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hypfer
I mean this _is_ HN after all. That is the core mindset that is being pushed here. Y Combinator is a startup accelerator.
It is just called "hacker" news because it's a nice sounding name. Not because it would actually be news for hackers nor because it would actually be culturally adjacent to hacker culture.
Though, those aforementioned hackers still do seem to occasionally hang out here regardless. Probably some weird case of masochism.
JohnFen
> Probably some weird case of masochism.
Or keeping an eye on the opposition.
kristopolous
I guess. This is ostensibly savvy users that will bounce at some confusing pay screen when you open the app and immediately uninstall
mochsalman
I initially thought that switching to a lighter launcher like Nova would make my phone-apps launching faster. However, I soon realized that what I actually needed was something to boost my productivity, so I switched to a launcher with fewer distractions, like Yantra Launcher (terminal-based), which I've been using ever since.
ff2400t
I highly recommend you try Niagara launcher. It's the only non-grid based launcher I have tried that has actually been worth the little learning curve.
PurpleRamen
This looks like the opposite of productive? Just typing on a touchscreen is already slowing you down so much, that all productivity-gain is lost.
dddw
Oh man, thanks for this tip. This will be great on my preordered Clicks communicator.
31rf89e1f5e6
Been using it for well over 15 years, and I have paid for Prime. But recently ~1-2 years, when it go acquired I was sad, but hopping it would go open source... maybe. But after today, I'm removing it from all of my devices, and all of my relatives devices. And leaving an updated review, so people know about this.
AdmiralAsshat
So the new stewards of Nova Launcher posted an official statement:
https://novalauncher.com/nova-is-here-to-stay
Pretty much confirms that ads will become a thing. However:
> If ads are introduced, Nova Prime will remain ad free. Our guiding principles are clear: keep the experience clean and fast, avoid disruptive formats, and provide a straightforward way to keep the experience ad free.
That's probably why I wasn't seeing any ads even after I got the update.
I've still reverted to a previous version and disabled auto-updates, because I basically have zero faith that being a paid member will turn off any of their shady tracking stuff, even if ads are not visible.
bastard_op
I've used nova on every android I've had since it came out to current, and when the former owner/dev warned people, I switched to lawnchair and didn't look back. Sounded like shenanigans and time to pull the ripcord on nova. RIP (not in ad/malware)
my_throwaway23
I've been using https://aiolauncher.app/ the past few years. It's great!
Bit of a sidenote, and I might be an exception here, but I don't get the point of all these launchers - they're all the same! Some might look a little better, some might have an option or two extra, but otherwise they're all the same. Mostly the same drawer, mostly the same panel for quick access.
dddw
Looks nice!
unethical_ban
At least in Graphene, you can block the app from having network access, but stock launcher in Graphene has worked well for me.
Damn these privacy-invading leeches.
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I was a 10+ year long Nova Launcher user and knew this day was coming after the sale and layoffs[0][1]...
This evening I at looked several replacement launchers, such as Lawnchair and even the stock Pixel launcher again, but Octopi Launcher[2] is the more modern, more refined Nova replacement that you are looking for.
It was a very easy, natural transition process from Nova - all of the Nova features that I used were there (unlike Lawnchair), such as swipe up/down on icons to perform different actions. And little things like folder options, icon placement, and widget handling are SO much nicer on Octopi compared to Nova. Staggeringly better.
I took a screenshot of each home screen page, set Octopi as the new default launcher, and was back to my previous configuration but with a significantly improved visual appearance, in about 15 minutes. It's a no-brainer upgrade from Nova.
The Google Play install is free and basically unlimited, but there is an unobtrusive "Buy Me A Coffee" type button that allows you to donate either $1 or $3 to unlock some eye candy, which I did, but mostly just wanting to support the developer.
[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45170000
[1] https://www.androidpolice.com/exclusive-cliff-wade-nova-laun...
[2] https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.otp.octopi...